Have you seen David Attenborough's footage of the North Pole? It includes amazing film of an Arctic Fox springing up into the air and arrowing down, paws extended, to punch a hole in the ice and catch a fish! Ava has this move down pat. Unfortunately, it is most often used in bed at night, on a certain sensitive part of husband-man's anatomy - I get woken by the yells. But I end up laughing it's so funny! If the dive bomb doesn't quite get the thing, she ends up scratching around trying to get through/at it or under the covering material. Which also elicits disapproving sounds in the middle of the night.
As a game however, this instinct makes for engaged cats. Both Ava and Kato are riveted by any cover I put out, always suspecting something is under it. So I put things under, attached to strings, which slowly get pulled along the length of the blanket or towel (underneath of course!). They love the 'Arctic Fox' game. And it is something I can do when I don't want to get up from the couch. Sometimes the towel covers me as well, and the toy gets woven behind my back and under my knees, accompanied by squirming cat. This is a game where I get to SIT! And while Ava and Kato don't get a 'panting with tongue hanging out' workout (this does happen!), their brains are fully switched on, and the exhaustion is achieved through a mental rather than physical means. And they are smart. Frequently they don't even look at the toy, but straight at my hands to see where it's going to pop out!
As a game however, this instinct makes for engaged cats. Both Ava and Kato are riveted by any cover I put out, always suspecting something is under it. So I put things under, attached to strings, which slowly get pulled along the length of the blanket or towel (underneath of course!). They love the 'Arctic Fox' game. And it is something I can do when I don't want to get up from the couch. Sometimes the towel covers me as well, and the toy gets woven behind my back and under my knees, accompanied by squirming cat. This is a game where I get to SIT! And while Ava and Kato don't get a 'panting with tongue hanging out' workout (this does happen!), their brains are fully switched on, and the exhaustion is achieved through a mental rather than physical means. And they are smart. Frequently they don't even look at the toy, but straight at my hands to see where it's going to pop out!